Paring early losses, the BSE benchmark Sensex today rose by 54 points in the late morning trade on fresh buying mainly in the healthcare, banking, capital goods, refinery and realty sectors on the back of firm global cues.
Persistent capital inflows from foreign funds also boosted the market sentiment.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,646.95 crs as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The BSE benchmark Sensex resumed lower at 20,167.93 and declined further to 20,162.12 on profit-booking in select counters. However, it recovered immediately to 20,326.48 before quoting at 20,267.29 at 1030hrs, showing a net gain of 54.33 points of 0.27 per cent from its last close.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved up by 23.45 points or 0.38 per cent to 6,170.20 at 1030hrs.
Major gainers were Dr Reddy Lab's (2.83 per cent), Icici Bank (2.00 per cent), SBI (1.30 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.29 per cent) and Cipla (1.11 per cent).
Asian shares rose in their early trade after data showed Japan's economy accelerated in the first three months of the year. Key benchmark indices in China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan rose by 0.32 per cent to 0.98 per cent, while indices in Japan and Singapore fell by 0.06 per cent to 1.13 per cent.
US stocks rose yesterday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 hitting new all-time highs in a broad market rally as the recent upward momentum persisted.
